Tess

[cottoncandypink]

The door does not open up to the condo, unfortunately. Because Wilford has not been to the condo since the last time he brought someone through the door. It opens up from his office, into an area nebulously defined as a dining room.

At least, there is a table there, which someone has taken a passing effort to keep clear. The stack of mail, hastily picked up toys, and a couple of coats on the table suggest nobody does any eating at the table.

The house is what passes as small in the neighbourhood. Windows look out on the sloping hills and sprawling city in the distance. Inside, brushed steel kitchen, slate grey walls, and leather furniture are betrayed by tiny hand smudges on the windows, peanut butter stains in the carpet, crayon scribbles in places that nobody seems to have the energy to deal with.

The house is also unusually quiet. How interesting.

Comments

[have_no_mercy]

"Ah."

His world is a pain in the ass, in her opinion.

"So why go trough all this trouble?"

[cottoncandypink]

From Wilford's perspective, everyone else's world is a pain in the ass.

"Because I like going to the bar without hurricane gear."

His condo is on the very end. He unlocks the door and lets Tess in. It's immaculately clean, and something's just a little off about it. It's not lived in, and looks more like a set than anything.

Almost as if they use this place as a filming location.

(That's exactly what they use this place for.)

[have_no_mercy]

"It's not that bad, is it?"

Any paper in the condo will soon go flying.

[cottoncandypink]

Luckily, there isn't much.

"It's not great." If she expected reassuring lies, she came to the wrong man.

Wilford waves vaguely for her to make herself comfortable and disappears back to one of the bedrooms.

[have_no_mercy]

If there's a couch, she'll sit on it, arms still crossed.

"Damn hormones."

[cottoncandypink]

There's a couch, dining table, everything else that would be expected to be in a place where people live. Just nothing that suggests anyone actually does live there.

"Yeah, well. Whose fault is that?"

Wilford returns with an iPad and a yellow envelope. The iPad probably needs to be charged, but it has the cord with it.

He hands both to Tess.

"You are Marilee Barnum," he says. "From East Carraway. Your husband is a retired Army colonel, and he's gone for six months a year during the winter, leading the One Percent on African safaris."

In the envelope, Tess will find everything she'll need to become Marilee Barnum. Drivers license, passport, insurance info, social security. The whole shebang.

Wilford plucks a pair of glasses with fake lenses from his shirt pocket and hands them over. Tess will never look like Nichola, but at least she can hide her face with some cat-eye glasses.

[have_no_mercy]

That's... a lot to take in all at once, but she takes the envelope and the laptop.

"Do I really need a husband? And could you give me a more southern name?"

She sorts through the documents, looking them over.

"African safaris?"

[cottoncandypink]

"Gives me a reason to never be here," Wilford says. "Why do you need to be southern? I don't have any shells for that."

All their aliases are from the Northeast, because that's where Wilford and all of his crew are from.

[have_no_mercy]

She just looks over at him and sighs, loudly.

"Never mind."

She takes the glasses and tries them on.

"Better?"

[cottoncandypink]

"It should work. As long as they can run the credit card and insurance, they're not going to look too closely."

He motions at the iPad. "Find what you need to find. I assume you're having them come up today?"

[have_no_mercy]

"That would be ideal, yes."

Putting the iPad in her lap, she starts searching for OBGYNs who might not freak out on her.

[cottoncandypink]

Wilford nods, letting her at it while he wanders off again.

"Couples draw less attention," he shoots back as he walks down the hall. "If you're going to be pregnant, don't be wealthy and single while doing it in a place like this."

The bedroom door closes again.

[have_no_mercy]

"That's sexist."

She calls down the hall, then get back to her search.

After about twenty minutes, she has it down to three.

[cottoncandypink]

When Wilford wanders back out, he is not himself. He's wearing khakis, a well-pressed shirt, different glasses with far less-stylish frames. His moustache has been painted black and styled completely differently — much less flair, and just kind of there for the sake of existing.

"How often do you travel under an alias?" he asks, pulling a comb through his hair in an attempt to style it.

[have_no_mercy]

She gives him a wide-eyed look, trying to take this all in.

"Uh, it varies. When I was a spy I did it all the time."

[cottoncandypink]

"And I bet people noticed. Nobody looks twice at couples."

He decides he's got his hair as good as it's going to get, and gets comfortable in a recliner, facing the door.

"You find what you're looking for?" he asks, pulling his phone out of his pocket to fiddle with it.

[have_no_mercy]

"That more depended on how I was dressed."

Although they did occasionally travel in couples.

"I think so. This one looks... appropriate."

[cottoncandypink]

Wilford nods and hands the phone over. His role in this scenario is the distant husband who's barely noticed his wife is even pregnant. To illustrate this, he opens the drawer in the end table and pulls a book out.

"You should have something with the address in there," he says, pointing at her envelope.

[have_no_mercy]

She takes the phone and eyes the screen for the telephone number.

"Some husband you are. Chances are this is not your baby."

[cottoncandypink]

Wilford is already positively engrossed in his book.

"Yes, yes, that's nice," he says, letting his natural accent come across a bit more heavily.

[have_no_mercy]

She chooses to ignore him and dials the number.

She speaks to the receptionist for a few minutes and rattles off the address from the diver's license and other pertinent information.

When she hangs up, she stops ignoring Wilford.

"They'll be here in about an hour, so drop the act."

[cottoncandypink]

"Oh, I thought we'd started when you implied it might be mine."

Because implying it might not goes both ways.

He puts his book down and leans back to get comfortable.

"They'll have to be buzzed in," he says, reaching back for his phone.

[have_no_mercy]

She stretches, handing the device back to him.

"Marilee? Really?"

[cottoncandypink]

"Nick picks her own names. Take it up with her."

Hell, this is one of the more subtle names Wilford uses.

[have_no_mercy]

She sets the iPad aside and crosses her legs, sitting back in a huff.

"Nothing with you is ever easy, is it?"